Industry Literature: Reflections of a Successful Wallflower by Andrea Michaels

If anybody in the events industry to date deserves to have a memoir published, it justifiably would indeed be Andrea Michaels. In terms of the events industry, she is the amongst what I consider to be the founding generation, and her reputation is legendary still as she continues to thrive in special event productions through her company Extraordinary Events. In her memoir Reflections of a Successful Wallflower, Andrea gives an incredibly personal account of her life stories through a voice that engages as if she’s having a conversation right there with you.

There are lots of memoirs out there that focuses on the public lives of these people that made them deserve a published memoir in the first place, and at least in terms of all the ones I’ve read up till now, none exposes as much humanity into the writing as Andrea does in her book. I mean she really lets you in; her vulnerabilities, insecurities, what her fears are and where they come from, and in some cases how she overcomes these things, or even describing how she puts on a facade to at least appear to be strong. I can see why after having had such a long history in the industry, being one of the creators of the industry, and having through this journey made essentially all the top industry influencers today her close friends and relationships, the way this book is written can be an endearing tribute to all whom have shared experiences with her.

One of the things that really fascinate me about the events industry is how ridiculously new this whole thing actually is. Events have been around since quite literally the beginning of time, but in terms of having an organized industry in the world called the Events Industry, that’s only been around for like, the past 30 years or so. “Industry” in terms of having its own media publications, conventions, forums of engagement, and all the other things that give some form and structure into an otherwise hustler’s game. When Andrea Michaels started her career, that’s literally all it was. There was no events industry. Herself, and the professors I had at NYU, and the others of this first generation were literally the creators of the events industry as we know it, back when they were our age.

One of the most fascinating things for me in business is seeing how far things can come in how short a period of time. Boggles the mind that stuff like Facebook and Twitter all didn’t exist just 15 years ago for example. Any industry would have its examples. In the case the the events industry, our entire thing didn’t exist when my mentors were my age. That to me makes it really exciting to think, how far me and my generation can take this thing as we step in the game with our whole lives ahead of us.